Letters from Home
by aneas
Summary: "I want you to have it with you wherever you are so you never forget me. It's been tough here without you"   AU Dan joined the marines after graduating from NYU.
1. Mail Call

Letters from home

Set Up- AU Dan joined the marines after graduating from NYU, time line diverges from canon around the end of season 4, i.e. Vanessa never stole inside and it was never published. Set in plausible near future, Iran started a shooting war in the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. retaliated.

It was another hot dry day in the middle of the Iranian desert, and the skies showed no signs of that changing soon, not a cloud in a thousand miles.

A cloud of dust was rising from somewhere on the eastern horizon heading straight towards the encampment of marines on the outskirts of a small Iranian city called Taybad, Taybad was a city of about 45,000 sitting on the strategic confluence of two highways near the afghan border, it had controlled the north south and east west flow of U.S. Forces in eastern Iran during the initial invasion, now it was nothing more than a staging area and command post far behind the front lines. As the cloud of dust and sand grew nearer he could make out the shape of a deuce and a half cargo truck speeding along the highway from the border. The truck stopped as it reached the front gate and the driver presented his orders to the guard and parked in the motor pool

"Captain Humphrey?" asked the young driver as he offered a salute which was quickly returned.

"What is it private?"

"Mail call sir"

"Okay bring it over here and I'll distribute it among the men"

"Yes sir, also a General McMillan asked me to deliver this to you sir" the driver offered as he pulled out a large manila envelope with the seal of the commandant on it

Seeing the symbol on the envelope and surmising its sensitivity Dan quickly retrieved both it and the mail before sending the driver back on his way.

After he was alone Dan carefully placed the envelope in his personal officers safe and returned to the mail.

"Alright, gather 'round men we got mail, let's see what your families sent you this week"

Dan quickly called off the names of all the men who had received mail from their loved ones, his heart falling as he passed the H's, sure his dad and Lilly had a tough time accepting his choice to serve but he hoped they would at least be supportive, as he finished up the mail he noticed one orphaned piece of mail sitting at the bottom of the burlap mail sack, it had no return address except a pair of lips pressed onto the envelope in lipstick, but as he picked it up he realized it was addressed to him

"Captain Daniel J. Humphrey, 2nd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, USMC"

As he read the address he smiled, the only person who would bother to put his full name and rank along with his unit designation was her, she was the one person he felt like he was really leaving behind, after all that they had been through together he just had left, not that she hadn't tried to stop him every way she knew how, finally she relented to the fact that he had made up his mind and she became supportive of his decision. What had really surprised him was that she wanted to stay with him through it.

So it was only two weeks before he left for war that they had eloped quietly at a Brooklyn cathedral, the remaining time they spent together was bliss and their goodbyes were tear stained and bittersweet, but just before he walked down the jet way to catch his plane to hell, he pulled her close and whispered one thing in her ear.

"I love you, I always will no matter what, and some way, somehow I'll always come back to you, I promise"

With that the wall of tears she had been holding back started to cascade down her cheeks and she held on for dear life and begged him not to go. His response was a simple

"I have to"

choked out into her blonde mane while holding back tears of his own, and then he turned, put on his cover, picked up his ruck sack, and slowly walked away towards war, each step harder than the last.

The wave of memories, emotion and the effect they had on him was surprising, however he was still excited to open it up and see what she had sent him, thus he quickly retired to his quarters to open his bounty. When he was alone he could still detect the faint odor of her favorite perfume as he broke the seal of the envelope, waiting for him inside besides several pictures of his bride very scantily clad, were two things that meant the world, a letter scrawled in her dainty handwriting and the picture of them kissing at her cotillion with a message scrawled on the back

"_I love you more than you will ever know –S"_

He held it in his hands for a second before slipping it under a strap on the in his helmet so he could always have it with him in the field.

He grabbed the folded up pieces of paper and began to read

_ Dear Dan,_

_I miss you SO much, like I can't even bear the thought that you won't come back for six more months, I can hardly wait until you're here with me again. I'm planning the biggest welcome home party ever for you, but only if you want one. Anyways enough about parties I hope that you're safe and sound when you get this letter and the attached items, I had sooo much fun taking them for you, I sent you my favorite photo of us, I want you to have it with you wherever you are so you never forget me. It's been tough here without you but I'm doing pretty well. Rufus and Lilly are still mad that you left but I know they send their love even if they don't say it, I just think that they're both scared that you'll get hurt or worse…_

At this point in the letter Dan noticed little spots where the paper had been wetted and dried out, and the ink smudged by quite a few tears.

_I honestly don't know what I'd do if you were gone, I couldn't go on_ _without you, so you have to keep your promise you have to come back to me in one piece. I still don't know why YOU had to go but I understand it and I support you fully, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to write you must think I'm a horrible wife, but if I wrote to you that would make it real that you might not ever come back to me. God I'm so sorry I'm being depressing you don't need to hear any of this from me you already know it all. Anyways back to what's going on at home I got one of those stars to hang in the window, I got the biggest one I could find and it's on the big window overlooking the harbor in our new home, I'm so glad you convinced me to move out of the city and to Greenwich I love it here just like you said, although it feels empty by myself. I still haven't been able to tell Lilly and Rufus that we eloped, it just doesn't feel right doing it without you, and I can't wait to do it so I can officially take the Humphrey name. I've got some big plans and things we're gonna do when you get back so hurry home and be safe, remember those pictures don't compare to the real thing. I want to do a video chat with you so expect news of that soon. _

_I'm yours forever and always._

_Love,_

_Serena _

Dan sat on his cot just staring at her letter for a while, he really missed her and he could tell that him being gone was driving her insane, for the first time he really questioned if he was doing the right thing by leaving her behind to serve or if he was being selfish and following his compass without thinking of what it would do to other people, but then a wave of anger at his father and step mother swept over him, how, after six months were they still unable to even wish him a "good luck" or "we love you"? That drove him insane in itself. Suddenly Dan remembered the bundle in the safe and quickly folded and stowed the paper into the chest pocket of his uniform. Opening the safe he quickly and smoothly broke the wax seal on the parcel and pulled out a folder marked "For Your Eyes Only along with a note from the general explaining that his command had been selected for a special mission and that these were his detailed marching orders. Dan opened the folder and read the orders, hardly believing what he saw; his team was to provide cover and security for a DEVGRU mission to take out Iran's nuclear fuel enrichment facility, located in the desert south of Qom, before the ayatollah could enrich enough uranium to build a bomb, they left at dawn…


	2. In the Land of Blood and Saffron

In the Land of Blood and Saffron

0600 hours  
>T-2hours until 0-hour for Operation Gabriel<p>

30 miles east of Qom, Iran

As the sun started to peek over the horizon and bleed light onto the clandestine camp of Marines and SEALs Captain Daniel J Humphrey readied his gear and his men. First checking his men's weapons and equipment, and then his own. Making sure that all of their identification patches and dog tags were removed and safely stowed at the HQ, for this mission or the unit they were supporting did not officially exist, and finally making sure that their weapons were locked loaded and safe. Nothing could go wrong on this mission, for if it did it could mean millions of Israeli or American lives.

Millions… the gravity of the situation was starting to hit Dan, if he screwed this up the equivalent of New York City could evaporate in an instant, the fear and dread started to well up inside of him he was well on his way to becoming a nervous wreck like many a over stressed commander before him when he pulled off his helmet and looked at the picture of them locked in an embrace and trying not to trip over his two left feet, that steeled his resolve he was doing this for her and with that he hopped into the Blackhawk as their mission got off the ground.

The sunlight was creeping into the big master bedroom of a Greenwich mansion that felt strangely empty, like it was waiting for something. As light started to spread across the bed and fell onto a Hellenic figure sprawled out across the sheets clutching an old ragged cabbage patch doll, as she began to stir she reached out beside her for something or someone, only to realize that it wasn't there, that _he_ wasn't there and he wouldn't be for a while, suddenly remembering this, her frame added a certain tenseness that was absent while she was dreaming, like she was dreading some horrible news that may never come. By the time that Serena brought herself to head downstairs and start on breakfast it was nearly 11am, she was supposed to meet her mother for tea later and she didn't want to starve did she? She turned the large television on and watched some mid-day news show as she waited for her toast to rise, she supposed that she could hire a cook for this kind of thing but he had eventually taught her to cook so she took pride in being able to do it herself. As she went to grab a plate for her toast she heard the screech of a car suddenly braking from outside, some bankers kid must be screwing around in his daddy's sports car again…

The fighting was fierce, with Iranian revolutionary guards cutting their position off from the main road, the Blackhawks would have to come into the hot zone to retrieve them, complicating matters they had been running top side security for the SEALs for a little over 20 minutes now and they were supposed to be gone 5 minutes ago, but apparently the SEALs had to cut through some blast doors to make sure the charges would carry the explosion throughout the entire facility. Finally the SEAL team emerged followed hotly by more Iranian soldiers, as the Iranians opened fire again they cut down some of the SEALs egressing towards the cover of the Marines, fuck Dan thought. We can't leave any men behind, this place will be rubble as soon as we get our ride out of here, so stepping out of the protective cover of a stone doorway and into the maelstrom of hot iron and lead Dan took a team of marines to retrieve the downed men …

Hearing a door slam Serena figured that this time the trust fund baby's had finally hit something, she didn't see the green Ford Crown Victoria with government markings parked in front of her mailbox on the street. As she went back to eat her breakfast there was a heavy knock on the thick oaken door. Walking to the door with her glass of orange juice in hand she opened the door to a sight she hoped to never see, the silence was broken with a crash as her glass shattered against the hardwood floor.

A middle aged Navy chaplain and a young marine corporal stood in the doorway in full dress uniform, the morning light gleaming off of the gold crosses on the chaplains lapels.

The chaplain was the first to break the deafening silence

"Ms. Van der Woodsen?"

"yes" came the reply quiet and filled with dread

"may we come in?" the chaplain asked his eyes full of tenderness and a little broken from the horrible nature of the job he had to do day after day

"yes" this time it was barely a whimper

"Ma'am we have some news you may want to sit down for"

"okay come in the living room" her throat was closing up she could hardly breathe anymore as they took their spots on the couches, the marine next to her and the chaplain across from her.

"Ma'am it is my duty to regretfully inform you that your husband Captain Daniel J. Humphrey, USMC has been severely wounded in action"

"oh god" nothing could stop the sobs now she just collapsed onto the shoulder of the mountainous marine.

"Ma;am what I am going to tell you next is very important, your husband is currently being airlifted to a US military hospital in Ramstein, Germany his injuries are very severe and from the information I have it appears he may not survive very long, I suggest you catch the next flight to Germany you can if you want to say goodbye"

She was fully hysterical now, it was all the two men could do to calm her down enough to speak

"Ma'am do you understand? You need to go to Germany NOW"

"yes, um uhh okay. My brother has a G6 I can get that" she managed to choke out

"okay ma'am we will stay with you until you can reach family"

"okay" as soon as she could steady her hands enough to dial she called chuck's private line and demanded use of the Bass Industries jet.

"well dear sister that is a multi-million dollar aircraft, and you just say that you need it for a random flight to central Europe, I don't know if I can do that"

"save your shit chuck this is serious" she managed to eek out before breaking down again.

The chaplain took the phone and continued her conversation

"? this is Lieutenant Commander John Huizinga United States Navy"

"Why am I suddenly speaking with a Naval officer instead of my sister?" came the seething reply through the receiver

"Sir, I am about to do something that could jeopardize my commission, I am going to tell you why you need to stop being a prick and give your sister that jet. Your sister's husband, Captain Daniel Humphrey USMC has been severely wounded and is en route to Ramstein military hospital in Germany from Iran as we speak. His injuries are very severe and he may not survive much longer, so unless you want your brother-in-law to die without saying goodbye to his wife I respectfully suggest that you pull your head out of your ass and get that jet wheels up to Germany ASAP"

A garbled jumble of words came from chuck's end of the phone as he complied with the demands and hung up.

Lt. Commander Huizinga walked back into the room and told Serena that the jet would be ready to take off from nearby Westchester airport in 10 minutes and they could get there in 5 if they hurried…


	3. A Lonely Place for Dying

A Lonely Place for Dying

As he stepped out of the doorway and into the street he could hear the hot balls of iron and lead whizzing past his head, but nonetheless he drove onwards towards the downed men. As he was making his way across the street he heard the most blessed sound in the world, the engines of two Blackhawk helicopters hovering overhead and the clatter of their 50 caliber machine guns unleashing hell upon the Iranians as the two birds dropped down to cover the wounded soldiers Dan led his small company over to them and started loading bodies onto helo's amidst the maelstrom of metal, soon after he finished loading the last man onto the helicopter he saw a figure pop up along one of the buildings roofs

"OVER THERE, SNIPER!" he yelled to the gunner but it was too late, he felt hot iron slice through the left side of his chest and into his arm.

His vision was fading in and out but as it was all starting to go black, he saw her face; he silently prayed that it wouldn't be the last time…

She shot out of the door almost instantly after the tires on the heavy sedan came to a screeching halt outside of Bass Industries private hanger at Westchester, her mind only focused on one thing _he needed her, _the man that she loved more than anything, needed her and she might only get to see him for a short while before he slipped away into the great black abyss. Her feet carried her onto the plane and she demanded that the pilot get them to Germany

"As fast as fucking possible or so help me god I'll have your job and pension"

Something about the tone of her voice kept him from questioning that threat, Mr. Bass had asked that he pick up his step-sister and fly her to Europe with all haste but he knew not why she needed to be there so quickly or why she was so upset, Jesus Christ, the girl looked like she might just crumble there in the seat. So he taxied the plane out onto the tarmac and set out east across the Atlantic.

The day just kept getting worse and worse for the corpsmen assigned to the temporary airfield and field hospital, this guy had it bad a sniper round through the chest cavity and into the brachial artery in his left arm, it'd be a miracle if he even survived the airlift to Germany, let alone lived much after that. Even so he loaded him onto the waiting C-130 and sent out a casualty notice that the family would receive in a matter of hours.

The plane was crowded with wounded and the medical staff desperately trying to keep them alive as the air force nurses made their rounds and triaged the men on the cots they came across the soldier still in his combat gear with a massive hole in the chest plate of his body armor.

"How the hell did he even survive long enough to get on the plane?"

"I dunno, it's a minor miracle he's even made it this long"

Suddenly the wounded marine starts to stir.

"Quick, give him some more morphine before he wakes up and feels it"

As the nurse increased his IV drip the young man's eyes flashed lucid for a second and he reached out and grabbed the nurse's wrist

"Serena, where's Serena?"

"Son, who's Serena? "

"My wife, tell her that I love her…"

And with that the world started to fade black for Dan Humphrey.

It was a warm summer day in central Germany, with only the occasional plane taking off or landing at the adjacent Air Force base to disturb the peace at Ramstein hospital.

Until the large cargo plane with red crosses on the sides touched down, as soon as that landed and its occupants were sped through the trauma ward's doors. Then, all hell broke loose.

"WE'VE GOT AN OFFICER LEFT SIDE UPPER CHEST WOUND THROUGH AND THROUGH TO THE ARM, IT NICKED THE BRACHIAL ARTERY!"

"HURRY UP WITH THAT TURNIQUET OR HE'S GONNA BLEED OUT!"

Dan's condition had seriously worsened during the balance of his flight a spot of turbulence during final approach had caused the slug, which had lodged itself in his arm snugly against his brachial artery to shift and tear the artery open releasing a torrent of crimson blood.

"HE NEEDS TO GET INTO SURGERY NOW! IF HE WAITS ANY LONGER THEY'LL BE SEWING UP HIS GODDAMNED CADAVER"

As he was being rushed into surgery a very unusual event was occurring over at the air base, a small private jet was asking for clearance to land, and the tower uncharacteristically had explicit orders to allow it.

"Ramstein Tower this is November Sierra Five Five Niner Whiskey, requesting clearance to land on runway Two Seven Zero Over"

"November Sierra Five Five Niner Whiskey, this is Ramstein Tower, clearance is granted, proceed to final approach over"

"Roger Ramstein, Over and Out"

Feeling the plane start to angle downwards stirred Serena from her pensive state and into one of sheer panic, _what if he was already dead when she got there, hell she couldn't even rush to his side and say goodbye properly. What a horrible wife._

Just then the pilot's voice crackled across the PA

"Miss. Van Der Woodsen we will be landing shortly after which Mr. Bass requires that I immediately refuel and head to pick up one of his business associates in Singapore. I suggest that you take any and all belongings you brought on board with you."

She managed to chuckle at that, _dumbass she thought, the only thing she needed was down there, dying in some hospital, without her, all alone _

As soon as it was safe to get off of the jet she started sprinting for the hospital, towards him. She made it the quarter mile across the tarmac to the hospital in under a minute as soon as she burst through the doors she stormed to the main desk and accosted the helpless looking nurse for information. Serena Van Der Woodsen was not a woman to be messed with when she you stood between her and someone she loved, or when she was scared.

"You! I need you to tell me where Captain Daniel J. Humphrey USMC is right now, or so help me god…I'm... gonna…"

The sobs started to catch up to her as she demanded the information she so desperately needed.

"Ma'am I can't give that information out to anyone except his family"

"I'm his wife" it was the quietest most pathetic sound that the duty nurse had ever heard, this tall blonde woman absolutely falling apart at the seams in the middle of a stunned waiting room

"ma'am he's in surgery right now you can some with me up to the OR waiting room the doctors will come to see you when they're done"

"When do I get to see _him_?" she managed to get out before the feeling of breathlessness took over again

"Ma'am just wait for the doctors to come and see you"

"I want to see him, he has to be okay, tell me he's gonna be okay"

The pain of seeing family members like this never got easier, when she knew that this woman's husband's prognosis was that he was most likely gonna die on the table without even a chance to say goodbye

"Honey I can't tell you that, you just have to wait and pray, it's all in god's hands now"

She tried the best she could to comfort the young woman; she found that telling them the truth worked well. She also offered to stay and pray with them, something she had learned growing Baptist in the Deep South.

"O... o… okay" the crushed blonde managed to spit out

"Sweetheart I'm gonna stay here with you until the doctors come out to you okay?"

After getting another nurse to cover her post she took the inconsolable blonde to the waiting room, holding and comforting her like she was her own daughter.

After 5 more hours the doctors finally came out

"Mrs. Humphrey"

"Yes" she managed to squeak out, not bothering to correct the surgeon for using the wrong name; she might never get to hear anyone else call her that.

"Ma'am I have good news and bad news, the good news is that your husband survived the surgery and we stopped the bleeding in his chest and arm"

"And the bad?" she couldn't help but feel a little better learning that Dan survived surgery.

"Well there's no good way to put this, he lost a lot of blood…" it was only now that she noticed that the surgeon's apron and scrubs were stained bright red.

"… Because of the blood loss his brain entered a state of hypoxia, which is a lack of oxygen to the cells, he's unconscious right now and we can't tell if he will ever regain consciousness."

As she sat beside his bed with her hands clutching tightly onto one of his own she started to speak to him, knowing that he probably couldn't hear her, she didn't care she just needed him to be there.

"Dan, I love you, have since that night in your room, will till the end of time, but dammnit Dan you don't get to leave now, not when our forever just started, not when I haven't been able to call myself a Humphrey yet" she paused for a few seconds to keep from dissolving into a sobbing mess

"I need you, I don't know what I'd do without you, and I can't deal with lily all by myself"

Another pause

"Dan, please come back to me"

Seeing this scene from the doorway broke the old nurse's heart, this girl had it bad. The scene playing out in front of her brought her back to another girl who had been in this situation 20 years prior, that soldier was in Somalia; he had eventually succumbed to his injuries and passed on soon after surgery. That girl had never really gotten over it, and now she was standing in a doorway watching happen all over again.


	4. The American Patient

The American Patient

The green lines and electronic beeps eventually blurred all together into the whir of the hospital, doctors and nurses calling out codes and people crying, it all seemed so inconsequential to Serena compared to the unconscious form she lay curled up next to in the bed.

"Dan when will you wake up?

I need you here with me; things are so hard at home Lily is being extremely difficult she wants me to leave you because you went off to war.

The day I got the news about you we were supposed to go out to lunch, I'm positive it would have been another set up attempt.

You have no idea how many times I've wanted to slap her across the face and tell her we got married… but I couldn't do it without you there to be strong for me…"

She broke down for a moment burying her head into his good shoulder and letting the tears soak through his hospital gown, the rhythm of his respirator was almost enough to lull her to sleep

A doctor making his rounds wandered in on the woman curled up in the bed

"You really can't be up there with him when he's on that respirator"

"Oh okay…" was all she could mutter as she lifted herself out of the bed and wiped her eyes dry and a question formed on her lips.

"How much longer does he have to be on it?"

The doctor paused considering her question before grabbing his chart and looking at it

"well he's been out of surgery for 48 hours so we should be able to take him off of it within the next few hours if he starts to breathe on his own he can stay off of it but if he doesn't we have to hook him up again"

"Do you have any idea when he's going to wake up?"

"Given the amount of trauma the wound caused in his pneumothorax and the hypoxia from blood loss it's hard to say, but he won't be the same for a while even if he does wake up"

"What? Why not?"

"Ma'am because of the amount of blood he lost his brain entered a hypoxic state for approximately 20 minutes and he had a brain ischemia"

"I don't understand, what does that mean?"

"He essentially had a moderate stroke to go along with the physical trauma from the bullet wound we won't truly know the extent of the brain damage until he wakes up, it could be as mild as some temporary slurred speech or as severe as permanent hemispherical paralysis and anterograde amnesia"

"Amnesia, he won't forget who I am will he?" the very thought of it horrified her

"no he won't forget anything from before, he just may not be able to remember things after it, think of it as severe short term memory loss, he'll remember everything from before he was wounded, but won't be able to hold on to anything that happens after"

"Oh okay…" as terrible as that sounded she couldn't help but be relieved that he wouldn't forget her.

After informing her of all the possibilities of Dan's prognosis and checking on his current condition the doctor excused himself to finish his rounds. Serena checked the time on her phone and saw that it would be around 9:30am in New York, she decided to call chuck and inform him of Dan's condition and prognosis, he was one of the few people who knew that she and Dan had eloped, for he and Blair had been the witnesses during the small ceremony in Brooklyn, much to their distaste.

The phone rang a few times before it was picked up.

"Hello?"

"Chuck? This is S"

"Oh hey sis, how are you doing?"

"Not good chuck I'm a mess"

"Oh… how's Dan?"

"Unconscious and on a respirator… he lost a lot of blood, they said he had the equivalent of a moderate stroke…" by this point the fatigue of being awake for more than two days straight and the reality of Dan's prognosis finally hit her and she started to unravel she became a sobbing mess of emotion

"S, you need to calm down and get some sleep, don't bother calling anyone else. I'll inform them all about what happened"

"Okay, thanks chuck, also I have one favor to ask…"

"Anything"

"Don't tell anyone we eloped just yet, I can't bear doing it without him"

"Okay I won't but I still can't see why you don't. It'd definitely get Lily off your back about those dates she keeps setting you up on…"

"It's just I can't… not without him with me…"

"Okay I'll leave it then; I'll call you back in a few hours and let you know what's going on stateside okay"

"Okay thank you chuck"

"Anytime, now get some sleep"

"Bye"

And with a dull click she collapsed into the chair next to his bed and about got some much needed sleep when a crew of doctors and nurses walked in.

"What's going on?" The bewildered blonde asked as soon as she was aware enough to notice all of them

"Don't worry honey this is a good thing, we're going to see if he can breathe without the respirator"

A weight felt like it was beginning to lift off of her chest when she heard those words.

Slowly the nurses carefully removed the tape from his mouth and nose, next came the intubation tube and mouthpiece as they switched the respirator off, and slowly Dan's chest continued to rise and fall on its own.

"Well looks like he's breathing fine on his own, he shouldn't need that machine anymore"

"Thank god, can I sleep up next to him now? The doctor before said I couldn't be up there because of the respirator"

"That should be fine hon"

"Thank you I sleep so much better when I'm next to him"

She climbed into the bed and slipped into blissful sleep as she curled up under his limp arm, and for the first time in 2 days she slept with just a hint of a smile on her face, maybe things were finally getting better.

She was roused from her slumber a few hours later by the buzzing of her cellphone, looking at the caller she decided that she had to take it and lifted the handset to her ear.

"Ugh, chuck what is it?"

"Nice to hear from you too sis, what did I do to earn such a warm greeting?" the sarcasm was practically dripping out of the speaker from an ocean away.

"You woke me up; I've finally been able to sleep, like _you _told me too."

"Well that good I guess, but back to the reason I called; I talked to Lily and Rufus and informed them of Dan's condition."

"And?"

"Well you aren't going to like it. Lily said, and I quote "well I can't say I'm surprised, it's his fault for going off to that dreadful war in the first place" Rufus wasn't much better but at least he showed concern for Dan, he says he'll fly out at the end of the week…"

"You have got to be kidding me… Dan is sitting here unconscious in a hospital bed and my mother blames it on him, I bet she's just all obsessed with how this is going to make her look in front of all of her political friends, I mean the it was bad enough having a military member in the family for the guilty liberal rich to despise, but now a wounded war hero as a step-son? She's probably concerned they will just stop inviting her to their events all together."

"wow settle down there S, it'll be fine, I mean just imagine the look on her face when he comes back with a purple heart on his chest" she caught herself chuckling at that thought.

"Yeah that'd be pretty priceless, thanks for that chuck I needed to laugh"

"Anytime, just get him home safe for us, I owe him a few drinks for serving."

"Will do, I have to go now I'm still pretty tired"

"Okay keep us in the loop, bye S"

"Bye"

With that over she felt a rage grow inside her chest at her mother, how could she say something like that, it was unconscionable. One thing was for sure if she and Dan ever got to have any kids Lily Van Der Woodsen was never getting anywhere near them.

After fuming in her own thoughts for a while she settled herself back into Dan's side and drifted off to sleep.


End file.
